Murdaugh to face charges in missing $4.3M insurance money from dead SC housekeeper
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Alex Murdaugh Coverage
The Murdaugh family saga has dominated the news after another shooting, a resignation and criminal accusations — with Alex Murdaugh at the center of it all. Here are the latest updates on Alex Murdaugh.
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Alex Murdaugh will be charged criminally in the missing $4.3 million insurance proceeds owed to the estate of his late housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield.
Murdaugh, 53, was taken into custody Thursday morning by the State Law Enforcement Division and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement at a rehabilitation facility in Orange County, Florida. Murdaugh was taken to the Orange County Corrections center in Orlando to await an extradition hearing.
Once extradition is granted or waived, SLED said he’ll head back to South Carolina, where he’ll face two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses.
Murdaugh’s attorneys Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin said he’ll be taken to Beaufort County. There, Murdaugh will appear before a magistrate judge for a bond hearing, according to a statement that was provided hours later to media.
It was not immediately clear when Murdaugh’s extradition hearing would occur Thursday and when he would be back in South Carolina. A bond hearing was not expected Friday, said a spokesman with the state Attorney General’s Office.
It was also not clear why the bond hearing will take place in Beaufort County and not Hampton County.
No warrants were made public as of Thursday afternoon.
“He surrendered himself to SLED, he didn’t fight extradition and he is coming back. He wants to face these charges,” Harpootlian told The State. “It’s a shame he didn’t get to finish his rehabilitation.”
Murdaugh, who is fighting a long addiction to opioids, was to undergo more weeks of rehabilitation, Harpootlian said.
“Alex intends to fully cooperate with this investigation, as he has with the investigation into the murder of his wife and son,” Harpootlian and Griffin said in a provided statement. “He deeply regrets that his actions have distracted from the efforts to solve their murders.”
The charges announced by SLED Thursday are the second batch of charges against the suspended attorney, and follow the ever-evolving saga of the Murdaugh family that includes the murders of his wife and son, embezzlement and fraud.
Last month, SLED charged Murdaugh with conspiracy to commit insurance fraud in connection with an alleged botched suicide attempt. He was out on bond on that charge undergoing rehabilitation when SLED took him into custody in Florida Thursday.
Charges in that case allege Murdaugh conspired with Curtis Smith, of Walterboro, to assist him in suicide for the specific purpose of collecting $10 million in life insurance that would go to Murdaugh’s sole surviving son, Buster.
Smith has denied the allegations. His lawyer said he’s being made out to be “the fall guy.”
“Today is merely one more step in a long process for justice for the many victims in these investigations,” SLED Chief Mark Keel said in a statement Thursday, regarding the Satterfield charges. “I want to commend the hard work and dedication that our agents have shown over the last four months. They will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of those who were victimized by Alex Murdaugh and others. As I have said previously, we are committed to following the facts wherever they may lead us and we will not stop until justice is served.”
Gloria Satterfield’s missing estate
Satterfield died of injuries received in a 2018 fall at the Murdaugh’s family house.
And the $4.3 million payable to her estate came from insurance policies Murdaugh had on his house.
In September, much of the evidence in the Satterfield case was brought to light in a civil lawsuit filed by Columbia lawyer Eric Bland, who represented Satterfield’s two sons, Tony Satterfield and Brian Harriott.
In that lawsuit, they accused Murdaugh, another lawyer and a banker of participating in a scheme to divert the $4.3 million in insurance proceeds from Satterfield’s estate. The sons allege that Murdaugh diverted settlement money intended for their family with the help of now suspended Beaufort attorney Cory Fleming and banker Chad Westendorf.
Fleming has since apologized for being involved. He has blamed Murdaugh and is returning more than $1 million he and his firm received from Satterfield’s estate.
On Thursday, Bland said he was “very proud” of the justice system and SLED.
“Lawsuits and claims are not vehicles for lawyers, defendants and/or friends to enrich themselves at the expense of their clients. These belong to the clients and the clients only,” Bland and Ronnie Richter, his co-counsel, said in a provided statement. “This is the sacred trust that lawyers and fiduciaries owe their clients.”
Murdaugh saga unfolds
Murdaugh’s second arrest is the latest development in the saga surrounding Murdaugh, which started in June with the still-unsolved murders of Murdaugh’s wife, Maggie, and son, Paul, at their Colleton County country home.
The murders have evolved into a series of other alleged crimes, including insurance fraud and embezzlement, and they’ve cast a spotlight on South Carolina’s legal community and how lawyers handle large sums of money that come their way.
In early September, a top Lowcountry law firm, PMPED, issued a public statement accusing Murdaugh, the firm’s longtime partner, of embezzling the firm’s money and clients. Sources said it may be as much as $10 million.
Confronted in early September with the accusation, Murdaugh resigned.
The S.C. Supreme Court has since suspended Murdaugh’s license.
Murdaugh’s case will be prosecuted by the state Attorney General’s office.
This story was originally published October 14, 2021 at 10:34 AM.
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to correct the first name of one of the lawyers representing the heirs of Gloria Satterfield to Ronnie Richter.
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